Aly Yeganeh’s Sibel’s Silence won Best Narrative Feature Film, and Pierre Guillet’s The Book of Harth won Best Documentary at the 7th edition of Festival of Cinema NYC in Forest Hill, Queens. Althea Root’s Good Side of Bad took home the Audience Choice for Best Feature Film.

Top individual awards went to Robert Haufrecht (Subterranean Love (Olga)) for Best Director, Damien De Dobbeleer (Interviewing Guillaume Bogaert) for Breakthrough Male Performance; and Sophia Massa (Come Find Me) for Breakthrough Female Performance.

Winners in the short film categories included John Cappello’s Floppies (Best Short Film – Narrative); Melissa Rodriguez’s Helado (Audience Award – Short Film); Jamin Mears’ Static (Best Experimental, Music Video, or Animation); and Laurence Shanet’s How Did That Happen?! (Best Web/TV Series). Cappello received a second award as he also took the prize for Best Editing.

Festival of Cinema NYC Founder and Executive Director Jayson Simba, said, “Our film festival envisions filmmakers, including their cast and crew, as an extended family of artists. It was an honor to once again welcome filmmakers from all around the world who made it a point to attend the festival in person. Not only did filmmakers and actors from all over New York City make an appearance, but filmmakers from as far as Paris, Belgium, and Germany made the trip all the way to Forest Hills, Queens to present their work to the attending public. The enthusiasm and support was evident – from the Forest Hills Community attending to the final award being announced, it always thrills us to see friendships and relationships forged throughout the 10 days at our film festival. I don’t know of another NYC based independent film festival that has such a lasting impact”

Additional individual award winners included Anna Capunay, who won Best Screenplay for Your Silent Face, with Katja Sallay’s Five Seasons – Eine Reise taking the award for Best Ensemble. Radiant Ties’ Director of Photography Logan Floyd won Best Cinematography; Stars’ Christian Anderson and Devin Gasteiger cited for Best Sound Editing; and Fog of War’s Ashley Valdez and Jessica Valdez winning Best Make up and EFX. Richard Hohenrath won FOC NYC’s first award presented for Best Unproduced Script for his work on “Real Heroes”.

The evening also included the film festival’s inaugural presentation of its Indie Film Vanguardian Award to local film hero Dito Montiel, famous for A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, among a number of films.

2023 FESTIVAL OF CINEMA NYC AWARD WINNERS

FEATURE FILMS

BEST FEATURE FILM – NARRATIVE
Sibel’s Silence
Director: Aly Yeganeh

BEST DOCUMENTARY
The Book of Harth
Director: Pierre Guillet

AUDIENCE CHOICE – FEATURE FILM
Good Side of Bad
Director: Alethea Root

SHORT FILMS

BEST SHORT FILM – NARRATIVE
Floppies
Director: John Cappello

AUDIENCE CHOICE – SHORT FILM
Helado
Director: Melissa Rodriguez

BEST EXPERIMENTAL, MUSIC VIDEO, OR ANIMATION
Static
Director: Jamin Mears

BEST WEB/TV SERIES
How Did That Happen?!
Director: Laurence Shanet

INDIVIDUAL AWARDS

BEST UNPRODUCED SCRIPT
“Real Heroes”
Writer: Richard Hohenrath

BEST DIRECTOR
Robert Haufrecht (Subterranean Love (Olga))

BREAKTHROUGH MALE PERFORMANCE
Damien De Dobbeleer (Interviewing Guillaume Bogaert)

BREAKTHROUGH FEMALE PERFORMANCE
Sophia Massa (Come Find Me)

BEST ENSEMBLE
5 Seasons – Eine Reise
Director: Katja Sallay
Cast: Mutlu Acar, Christoph Gawenda, Pegah Ferydoni, Max Hegewald,
Katja Hutko, Yanina Lisovskaya, Misel Maticevic

BEST SCREENPLAY
Your Silent Face
Writer: Anna Capunay

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Radiant Ties
Director of Photography: Logan Floyd

BEST EDITING
Floppies
Editor: John Cappello

BEST SOUND EDITING
Stars
Sound Design: Christian Anderson, Devin Gasteiger

BEST MAKE UP AND EFX
Fog of War
Make up: Ashley Valdez, Jessica Valdez